An unfathomable time later, she opened her eyes again. The room was brighter, but otherwise the scene had remained the same. Logan was next to her in his chair, fiddling with a laptop.
"Hey." Her throat still hurt.
He looked up and smiled, waiting for the inevitable "Where am I?"
"Why can't we go back to Seattle?" she asked instead.
His smile grew. "You remember the first part...finally."
He moved closer to the bed. "The computer linkup with Manticore was cut. We have no idea what's going on there, what they know. Not yet, at least. Bling is moving all of my equipment to a safe house. In a week or so, we'll move you there and see if we can figure out what's going on."
Max shifted in the bed, queried her body. Nothing hurt, exactly, but she was pitifully weak. She'd never felt like this before. She hated it. She hated Logan seeing her like this. Good thing this was only a dream.
"But who would know about you?" she asked, playing along. "Except Lydecker, and he wouldn't..."
Logan watched her for a second. "When I found you, hurt, I wouldn't leave. Lydecker knocked me out. He must have reconsidered, because he'd gotten both of us halfway back to the van when Zack showed up."
He hesitated, not wanting to go on. But she'd find out eventually. "Zack misunderstood. He thought Lydecker was responsible for your injuries. He shot him, point blank, and left him. By the time I regained consciousness and we pieced the story together, we were too far to go back. Lydecker's probably dead--Zack doesn't fool around--but we can't know for sure."
"So Lydecker tries to help us, and winds up dead because of it," she replied, telling herself she shouldn't care. But she was on a roll, wallowing in misery and weakness. Might as well let it all out.
"And now you're stuck up here because of me?," she asked, kicking herself as she said it. "And moving out of the penthouse? Aren't you losing valuable saving-the-world time?"
The hurt in his blue eyes was stifled almost before she saw it. Almost. Whatever, it was just another damn nightmare.
"You seemed like the priority at the time," he said stiffly. "The bullet went through you without hitting any major organs, but you had lost an enormous amount of blood, and the soft tissue damage was significant. Discretion or not, it didn't seem safe to leave you at the clinic. And it was equally risky for the others to stay with you. Manticore took heavy losses, but there were plenty left. Seattle isn't safe for either of us, and I chose to stay with you."
God knows why was the undertone she imagined in his voice. She'd caused it, she knew, but still...she burst into tears.
"Join Manticore," she whimpered. "See the world, they said. Meet interesting people. Nobody said anything about having to kill them all. I wanna go home!"
Logan slid one arm around her, carefully, and started murmuring nonsense words about home, healing, the side effects of the medicine, how she'd feel better soon.
But damn, she was crying. Enough of this dream.
She let him wipe her eyes and let herself slide back into the blackness.
"Hey." Her throat still hurt.
He looked up and smiled, waiting for the inevitable "Where am I?"
"Why can't we go back to Seattle?" she asked instead.
His smile grew. "You remember the first part...finally."
He moved closer to the bed. "The computer linkup with Manticore was cut. We have no idea what's going on there, what they know. Not yet, at least. Bling is moving all of my equipment to a safe house. In a week or so, we'll move you there and see if we can figure out what's going on."
Max shifted in the bed, queried her body. Nothing hurt, exactly, but she was pitifully weak. She'd never felt like this before. She hated it. She hated Logan seeing her like this. Good thing this was only a dream.
"But who would know about you?" she asked, playing along. "Except Lydecker, and he wouldn't..."
Logan watched her for a second. "When I found you, hurt, I wouldn't leave. Lydecker knocked me out. He must have reconsidered, because he'd gotten both of us halfway back to the van when Zack showed up."
He hesitated, not wanting to go on. But she'd find out eventually. "Zack misunderstood. He thought Lydecker was responsible for your injuries. He shot him, point blank, and left him. By the time I regained consciousness and we pieced the story together, we were too far to go back. Lydecker's probably dead--Zack doesn't fool around--but we can't know for sure."
"So Lydecker tries to help us, and winds up dead because of it," she replied, telling herself she shouldn't care. But she was on a roll, wallowing in misery and weakness. Might as well let it all out.
"And now you're stuck up here because of me?," she asked, kicking herself as she said it. "And moving out of the penthouse? Aren't you losing valuable saving-the-world time?"
The hurt in his blue eyes was stifled almost before she saw it. Almost. Whatever, it was just another damn nightmare.
"You seemed like the priority at the time," he said stiffly. "The bullet went through you without hitting any major organs, but you had lost an enormous amount of blood, and the soft tissue damage was significant. Discretion or not, it didn't seem safe to leave you at the clinic. And it was equally risky for the others to stay with you. Manticore took heavy losses, but there were plenty left. Seattle isn't safe for either of us, and I chose to stay with you."
God knows why was the undertone she imagined in his voice. She'd caused it, she knew, but still...she burst into tears.
"Join Manticore," she whimpered. "See the world, they said. Meet interesting people. Nobody said anything about having to kill them all. I wanna go home!"
Logan slid one arm around her, carefully, and started murmuring nonsense words about home, healing, the side effects of the medicine, how she'd feel better soon.
But damn, she was crying. Enough of this dream.
She let him wipe her eyes and let herself slide back into the blackness.